Asian Chain
by Burgirhig
Summary: A continuation from Ark Angel, set in Australia. Can Alex Rider stop this Criminal befor it's to late...First fic. Please read&review!
1. Bad Day

Bad Day

Annabel Rose dragged her tattered payless school shoes along the cracked and, altogether too dry, footpath of Marrickville Rd. It had been a very bad day and it had all started with Ms Riley in first period. Ms Riley took English and she hated it when students didn't do their homework. She took it as a personal insult and would spend most of the lesson trying to think up the best possible punishment for each poor student whose dog got a little to hungry or whose calendars got a little to full for them to handle. Annabel had always had this idea that Ms Riley had had no friends in high school and had only become a teacher to make the children of the next generation suffer as much as she had.

Anyway, Annabel had been looking forward to lunch all week because she was supposed to be going to America on student exchange for three months and her friends were throwing her a goodbye party. Therefore, the night before, she had been so busy planning, how she was going to wear her hair and what makeup she was going to put on, that she had completely forgotten about the large, rather weighty, assessment task due the next day.

When it came time to hand in the assessments, she had panicked and made some feeble excuse involving basket ball, a hospital and a broken nose. She might have pulled it off except for the fact that, not only did she not have a broken nose, but they had been given the assessment task a month ago, which, according to Ms Riley, was plenty of time to complete a "measly Feature article on the prosecution of black people in America in the 1950s"

As per usual Ms Riley decided to spend as long as possible choosing a punishment and probably would have settled to make Annabel stay and do her assessment task after school only to get zero anyway, if, just before she left for recess, her best friend, Julia hadn't run in the room yelling for all to hear,

"Annabel don't forget lunch, we don't want to have to eat all that food on our own".

Ms Riley, ever in search of the perfect punishment, looked at Annabel with a truly evil look in her eyes and asked what it was that was happening at lunch that desperately required her attention. Knowing what was coming, Annabel prepared herself to make up a truly believable story which would stop Ms Riley from giving her lunch detention, but Julia beat her to the punch.

"We're throwing her a goodbye party because she's going to America for three months". Julia, who had been too excited to take a breath through her short, life ruining speech, gulped for air.

The gleam in Ms Riley's eyes got even brighter as she put together her plan to make Annabel's life a living hell.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I've just found the perfect punishment for your assessment task. Or should I say, lack there of".

Julia looker at her with utter horror.

"You're going to keep her in at lunch?"

"Yes", she replied shortly, "I will see you at one Miss Rose". She turned on her heal and strode out of the room with a big smirk on her face.

Annabel's shoulders curled, her eyes dropped, and she looked utterly defeated. She looked up at Julia and glared at her. As far as she was concerned it was all her fault and nothing Julia said or did would help her.

"Great going genius, just what I needed." And she stalked out of the room.

It had all gone down hill from there.

In third period she got told off by her Italian teacher, Mr. Genoble, for talking during the lesson, in forth she was told off by her textiles teacher for breaking a needle on the sewing machine and of course she had also got told off by her friends' because of the party.

By the end of the day Annabel felt like dirt. Worse then dirt even, if there was such a thing, and all she wanted was to go home. She couldn't go home though because she knew that Ms Riley would have phoned home and her mother would be waiting for her in her bright orange interrogation seat at the kitchen table, arms crossed, ready for an argument. Annabel didn't think she could face that right now. So, instead of facing her mother, her father, and even her brother she decided to take the long way home and stop at Macca's on Marrickville Road.

She didn't much like the food there; it always made her feel horribly fat and quite sick afterwards, but it had a great atmosphere if she was feeling blue. Probably because she went there with her friends a lot as a child and it still held a lot of good memories.

She walked slowly across the sticky tiled floor, pretending to try and decide what to get, but she already knew. She had ordered the same thing as long as she could remember coming here, a medium big Mac meal, with diet coke and a hot apple pie.She got her money out and walked towards the counter, going for the skinniest, quickest, male server she could. She did this because, after many years of trial and error, she had discovered that the thinner the person the more chips they put in the cup. The fat ones usually only half filled it because they were worried about their own body image and didn't like to watch others pig out when they knew they couldn't. Most of them didn't even realise they did it, but they all did. This went for most girls as well.

After ordering from acute boy, of about 17, Annabel found a lone table in the upstairs area and ate away her sorrows. The food tasted like cardboard in her mouth but at the moment she didn't care. She wasn't even thinking about her food, she just wanted tochew on something as she drowned herself in self pity.

She left five minutes later, still depressed; the only difference was, now she felt sick and fat as well. She looked at all the beautiful clothes in the shop windows and dreamed of herself in them somewhere spectacular. The shops on Marrickville Rd were all Vietnamese, and, though she knew she wasn't fat by any means, she knew she would not be able to squeeze into anything here.

She turned off Marrickville Rd and into Illawarra Rd. Illawarra Rd had a great number of employment help places, supporting names like "work solutions" and "employment plus", and shoddy furniture shops that displayed boxes of do it yourself chairs and tables. Annabel prayed that she would never end up there.

She got off Illawarra Rd as fast as possible and moved into Tunchy Ln. a squashy back lane that, even though it looked like all those ally ways in horror films, felt like home to Annabel. She walked up past the large green commercial rubbish bins. The tall, dirty buildings looming on either side.

That was when it happened!


	2. Lost and Found

Hey guys. Thanks for the reviews. Sorry about the spelling. I did it at about 11pm and didn't read it properly. i've fixed it now though. Hope you like the next Chapter.Bye...

A hundred miles off the eastern coast of Australia there was a large fishing boat hove to. They were just settling in for the nights work when they saw the large fire ball shot through the night sky and land in the black, inky ocean about 1km away. After a long debate, with arguments that could have worn down the devil himself, the sturdy, gruff looking fishermen opted to go and investigate.

They arrived at the landing spot to discover a capsule about 200cm x 80cm with the words Soyuz-Fregat on the side. It was covered in a layer of disgusting grey, almost black soot, probably caused by the fire. In some places where the water had been lapping, there were traces of the capsules original glory, where you could see some of the cream paint through the soot.

A man in his late 40's climbed down into a small work boat and motored over to the capsule which was bobbing up and down in the water. An operator moved the derrick over the bow and onto the water. When it got close enough to the capsule he lowered the hooktill the man in the workboat could reach it. The man, who looked terribly small out in the boat surrounded by water, hooked the hook onto the steel ring on the top of the capsule and waved back to the main boat before motoring back as quickly as possible.

The operator slowly pulled the capsule out of the water, the suction of the water resisting its pull, and brought it, swaying dangerously, over the railing. Men ran from all directions to help steady the capsule as it was let down to meet the deck.

After the hook was removed and it was tied firmly to the deck, the fishermen huddled around it like it was a fire in Greenland. There was a strange noise coming from inside it. Curiosity got the better of them and they got a crowbar and attempted to crack it open. They had not, of course, been expecting to find a boy inside the oddly shaped vessel when they picked it up, therefore, when they finally managed to open the tightly sealed door on the side of the capsule and Alex tumbled out, coughing and laughing uncontrollably and barely able to stand up, they didn't know what to think.

He looked human enough, but then so did Superman. He seemed to be around 15, with shaggy blond hair, sun-drenched skin and freckles, clutching his upper left side protectively. He was down on all fours, shaking in fits of laughter, like a kid who had just heard the funniest joke in the world. No, he couldn't be an alien. But then, where had he come from. No one would send a kid into space, and if this was a new sort of plane or something, then no self respecting engineer would test it on a kid. The men looked at each other uncomfortably. They didn't like not knowing and the boy still hadn't stopped laughing.

At last one of them worked up some courage and asked him his name. He was the tallest of the group and had short black hair, which he had covered with a red and black stripped beanie with the words "Go Swans" sewn on the front, a large nose that looked as if it had been broken recently and a beer gut. His name was Greg Grossman, and, though he was slightly nervous about the boy in front of him, he also felt sorry for him. After all, he probably didn't know where he was or what was going on; he also seemed a bit… simple.

The boy stammered something that sounded like Alik Riddle and dropped even closer to the oily surface of the deck. Greg decided to take charge of the situation sending orders in every direction, "turn back to Sydney", "Pull in the nets", and " someone get this boy some coffee". He then edged closer to the boy, who was now lying on his left side heaving with silent laughter, put his hand under his shoulder and slowly pulled him up until he was standing hunched over. The boy was starting to calm down slightly, so he took him into their make do kitchen and sat him at the hard plastic table which was screwed down in the middle of the room and sat down opposite him.

"So Alik, what where you doing out here, in the middle of nowhere."

"M..my name isn't Alik." His laughter was finally dieing.

"Well what is it then?"

"It's Alex. Alex Rider."

Greg Grossman relaxed a little. The boy, Alex, had an English accent and he had almost completely calmed down. He could see the boy's eyes now. They were brown and had a look that said he had seen too much.

"So then Alex, where are you from, and what are you doing here?"

Alex thought about it. He could tell him the truth, but he knew they wouldn't believe him. He wondered what he could say that would sound realistic enough without causing a search party. He could tell them he had been parachuting and the wind had taken him off course but that wouldn't account for the capsule they had found him in. No, no, he'd better stick with the truth.

"I'm from London, England, but I'm afraid I can't tell you what I'm doing here, but if you take me to the nearest British consulate they'll know what to do with me."

"Well, I will have to take you to customs first but I'm sure that, if you are indeed from England then that's where you will end up.'

"Thanks." The man nodded and started to leave, "Out of interest," he stopped and turned around, "where am I?"

"At the moment you're about 100 miles east of Australia, but we're taking you to Sydney. And, so you know I'm Greg Grossman, ask for me if you need anything. God knows the other guys couldn't understand you. You're lucky, my wife's English."


	3. A familiar face

**Hey guys thanks for the reviews. yesI do intend to makethis a romace fic causeI always feltthatAlex should have had a love intrest in the books Sabbie doesn't count.**

**Sorry about any mistakes. If you see any, just mention it in a review and I will fix it. Please, please, please Review. Ok ****I'll get on with the story now…**

**Chapter 3 - A familiar face**

Alex sat in a room which looked as if it had been pulled straight out of an episode of CSI; waiting for… well he didn't know what he was waiting for. He was just waiting.

After the fishing boat had arrived at Sydney Harbor he had been taken to customs. Here he was asked his name, date of birth and where he was from by a thin lady with fake blond hair which had been pulled back tightly in a bun, wearing a designer suit. Then he was left alone.

He'd been waiting about 12 hours, with the only visitor being an elderly man in a white coat who had only come to give him a sandwich and a juice box, when there was a knock on the door and a man walked in. Every thing about him seemed grey and dull. His suit was grey; his hair was grey, his eyes and even his mouth were grey.

"Hello Alex" the man said, "How have you been."

"What do you want Blunt".

Alan Blunt looked at Alex, a slightly hurt expression plastered on his face,

"Oh that hurts Alex; I don't even get a hello any more."

This surprised Alex, he didn't think the man had feelings. The way he had put Alex's life in jeopardy time and time again certainly suggested he didn't. Not for Alex anyway.

"Hi," Alex said emotionlessly, "what do you want?"

Mr. Blunt's face became serious all of a sudden.

"Frankly Alex, we need your help."

"No! No way!"

"Come now Alex. I promise you it's not a very dangerous mission. You won't run the risk of getting shot at. You'll just be finding information on certain events."

"Yeah, and the mission on Skeleton key wasn't the lest bit dangerous either. And Storm breaker, was just a walk in the park? Point Blanc ring any bells?"

Well, that's true, but this is completely different. It's just a research mission. No danger in research."

Alex rolled his eyes. Like he hadn't heard that one before. He thought about it, did he really want to be drawn into another on of these, supposedly "safe" missions. He knew that if he let Alan Blunt continue, he would have no chance to refuse. Alan Blunt could be quite persuasive when he wanted to be. Did he really want to be dragged back into the life he was meant to hate?

"What's the mission," he asked bluntly, sighing inwardly.

"A month ago, a fourteen year old girl was attacked in a back ally in a suburb called Marrickville-"

"I'm very sorry to hear that, but what's that got to do with me?"

"I was just getting to that, she said she was attacked but there wasn't a scratch on her. Not only that but no less then a week latter she and her mother were shot at in a shopping center in another suburb called…" he looked down at the clip board he had in his hand, "Burwood. Also she was set to go to America the day before the "attack" but she never left."

"So she pulled out, she probably got homesick."

"Before she'd even got on the plane?"

"It does happen." Alex knew from personal experience. When he was younger, around 5 or 6, he used to panic every time his uncle left the house. His parents being dead probably something to do with it.

Alan Blunt ignored him and just kept on talking as if nothing had happened.

"We need you, Alex, because we suspect that she saw something she wasn't meant to see. Something relating to a major terrorist operation we suspect is operating in the area. We want you to make friends with the girl. Get her to open up to you. Tell you what you saw, and she isn't going to do that with some 30 year old English guy. But you, you might have a chance."

"So why isn't the Australian secret services, whatever they're called, working on it?"

"ASIO."

"What?"

"ASIO is the name of the Australian Secret services."

"Whatever."

"ASIO isn't dealing with it because the terrorist we are dealing with is British and we asked to be aloud to deal with him ourselves. Therefore it is up to us to find out what's going on and we want you to be the one to do it."

Alex looked expressionlessly at Mr. Blunt. Did he want to do this? The simple answer was Yes. He knew that. He had known that before Alan Blunt had started talking. He felt guilty for wanting to do it, because of Jack, his house keeper come guardian, but it didn't change the fact that he did.

After being in the spy business for just over a year, Alex didn't think he would be able to slip back into his old life. He wouldn't be able to live without the constant adventure and excitement. He lived for the adrenalin rush that came with every mad stunt he pulled. It was like a drug, and he was hooked.

"Fine," he said, trying not to sound too eager, "I'll do it".

"Good," he said as if he had known he was going to agree all along, "the girls name is Annabel Rose, she goes to Marrickville high school, and, starting Monday, so will you." He handed Alex a manila folder, "this is your life," he stated simply, tapping the folder lightly, "learn it."

With that he got up and started for the door.

"You've got three days."

**Hope you liked it. Sorry for the delay I had writers block.**


	4. Mr Gadget

Chapter 4: Mr Gadget

Alex was moved from the non-de-script room in the customs office to a large hotel room. It was an expensive room. Any fool could tell that. There was a foyer with a side table and coat rack, which ended in a step that brought you into the lounge area. There was a luxurious, leather couch facing a broad window showing a spectacular view of the city and a large screen TV. Off to the left there was the door to the bath room which was an expansive room decorated in a soft shade of pink with a large spar sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. To the right there was a make do kitchenette that consisted of a bench a mini fridge and a sink, a table at which two could dine, and the door that led of to an extravagant bed room painted in pale blue.

Alex spent his first day in the room, learning everything he possibly could about his alias 'Alex Harris'. He was from London (Alex couldn't exactly act as if he had lived in Bradford if he had never spent more then a day there in his entire life) he had two dogs (Jamie and Boxer) and a cat named Babe, he had no siblings and was moving to Australia because his "dad" got a job offer he couldn't turn down. His "mum" was a real estate agent who was being "transferred" to Sydney because of his "dad". By midday Sunday he knew everything about his alternate self and decided to explore the hotel.

He opened the door to find a very fat man frozen in mid knock. "Hello Alex", the man exclaimed a little bit too joyfully, taking his hand down slowly, "how _have_ you been?" he didn't wait for an answer before moving on, "Good? Good. Well now Alex, are you going to invite me in, it really doesn't do for us to converse in the hallway like this." Recovering a little, Alex stepped aside to let the large man waddle in.

As he reached the main area he sucked in a breath of air in shock.

"This is quite a room you've got here," he sighed, "truly magnificent. All they gave me was a one room thing on the second floor with two tiny windows, one in the bathroom and one beside the bed. It's a single by the way."

Alex stepped up behind him and took another look around. "It _is_ quite large isn't it Mr. Smith."

"I would say that's an understatement, but anyhow, on to business. I've been racking my brain, Alex, to come up with some new and interesting things to hide in objects that are permitted in Australian high school's. I must say they are quite strict, not as strict as the American's, but…" he nodded his head slightly to emphasize his point, "I must say I'm very happy with what I've come up with."

He walked over to the kitchenette and sat down at the two man table. He put a large metal briefcase on the table in front of him and Alex joined him as he entered a combination into the complicated looking lock. He lifted the first object out of the box slowly as if to build suspense.

"This is your school diary. It look exactly the same as every one else's but if you peal back the top layer of the front and back covers ,cover someone's mouth and nose and they will be knocked out for half the day. It is like those hand wipes they give you a KFC except it is covered in chloroform."

Alex took the diary and looked through it. It just looked like a diary. It had day's, week's and months. A section for you to write down home work and other things like that. It even had a little place where the teacher could write a note to parents if they needed to.

Alex would have kept looking at the diary, there was something about new stationary that made him want to start writing, but Mr. Smith was already taking out the second object. It was one of those scientific calculators that required an entire topic of work each year just to understand.

"This is the calculator that the school requires you to own. You won't be able to use a calculator in the finals if it isn't one of these. This one however is different from most-"

"Obviously-"

"-if you press shift + the hyp button then the calculator will screen the room for bugs. If you press mode three times then press 1 then the darker buttons turn into a calculator. You can type up a message and send it back to London by pressing equals twice."

He gave this to Alex also. Alex stared intently at the keys trying to burn all the combinations into his brain. He put it aside and Mr. Smith reached back into his box of tricks.

His third object was something that every school student, infact every one in the world owned. A bag. It looked like a regular back pack but knowing Smith it had some pretty amazing tricks up its sleeves, or… zips.

"This is to be your school bag. It is pretty basic, school books in here, lunch in here, but…"

_Here it comes_ thought Alex.

"But…?" Alex asked, curious to what the bag could possibly do.

"But, you see this layer of padding in the back here. Well if you pull on the straps really hard, simultaneously, then it opens up here to release a parachute. I don't know what you would need it for, but it's better to be safe then sorry. It also has, now I'm extremely proud of this invention, wait for it, an oxygen tank."

Alex blinked and looked back at the bag. How could it possibly hold an oxygen tank. He had been scuba diving a few times, mostly in the last year and a half, and he had never seen a tank small enough to fit in that bag.

"Huh?"

"I discovered a particular type of plant fiber that doesn't require sunlight or water. It converts carbon dioxide into air in less than 30 seconds so you only need about 2 minutes worth of air to run it for up to two months. All you have to do is unzip this zip with the umbrella sign on it and pull out the tube and mouth guard and breath."

"Amazing." Alex sighed dreamily thinking of all the times he had nearly run out of air under water on a mission of some sort.

"Now for the big finally." Exclaimed Mr. Smith, lifting the last gadget from the briefcase.

"It's a glue stick." Alex said, a little disappointed. He just couldn't imagine anything that this simple glue stick could accomplish, other then gluing paper and they usually didn't do that very well any way.

"Not just any Glue stick. It is a super glue stick. It is as sticky as super glue and, when applied to metal, acts as an acid and eats it away in 20 seconds."

"You truly are a _brilliant_ man Mr. Smith." Alex grinned.

"I know."

Hi Guys I know I haven't updated in a while but for some reason I have more of an urge to write when I have mountains of school work and now that the school cert is over and all we are doing is watching videos and making DNA earrings (very cool by the way) I just haven't had any inspiration to write. Sad I know.

Any way I promise I will try to up date more often.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.

Bye now Burgirhig.

TBC


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